Presently, educators face a difficult choice when they decide whether to permit young children to use calculators in school. Advocates of calculators appreciate the way they enable children to solve challenging problems without being constrained by their hand-calculating abilities. Detractors are concerned that children who use calculators might never develop basic skills in arithmetic. Clearly, a need exists for a calculating device that will enable children to quickly complete arithmetic operations while simultaneously teaching them the skill of hand calculation.
A solution to this problem was proposed in 1976 by Hirano et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,932). Their invention makes some possibility for children to understand the arithmetic performed by a calculator by presenting a hand-written calculation one step at a time on the calculator screen, rather than displaying simply the answer. From the adult perspective, this solution might appear complete. However, it does not give any visual indication of the logic behind each step. This constitutes a major limitation.
Another solution was proposed by Vanova in 2006 (U.S. Pat. No. 8,371,858). This invention illustrates the meaning of the calculation by use of icons, giving a far higher chance that the student really understands the logic behind the calculation. Unfortunately, it does not present the solution in a manner that has any correspondence to hand-calculation. Thus students might understand how the answer was reached, but not how they might have gotten this answer on their own by use of pencil and paper. This constitutes a major limitation.
A third solution is provided by CalcStep, an iPhone® app by Betyl Pty Ltd. This solution is hard to understand. It requires that students respond to questions, which is tedious and for some children impossible.
The presently disclosed invention overcomes all the shortcomings of the prior art and provides many additional features and benefits as well.